Age-related anomalies of electrocardiograms in patients from areas with differential Seroprevalence of Chagas disease in Southern Bolivia

Abstract

Introduction Chagas disease currently affects some 6 million people around the world. At the chronic stage, cardiomyopathy occurs in about 20–30% of infested people. Most prevalence studies have focused on young to adult people due to the drastic consequences of acquiring the pathogen and the possibility to cure the disease at this age; the prevalence of this disease, the effect of patients' sex and the consequences to senescent people have been largely neglected. This study looks to characterize the seroprevalence of Chagas disease and its relation with occurrence of electrocardiographic anomalies associated with sex and age, and to compare rural and urban populations in Bolivia. Methodology Seroprevalence of Chagas disease was determined in blood samples and electrocardiograms were performed on seropositive individuals. Results The rural population showed higher seroprevalence than the urban population (92% and 40%, respectively). The proportion of Chagasic cardiac anomalies in seropositive persons was highest in patients of the 50–59 age group (36%) as compared with the 40–49 (8%) and the ≥60 (17%) age groups. Conclusions Higher seroprevalence in rural population was attributable to a higher probability to encounter the vector in rural areas. Increased exposure to infection and to development of the disease symptoms together with increased lethality of the disease as patients age explains the age-related Chagasic electrocardiographic anomalies. Since rural and urban populations showed different reactions under Chagas disease and the rural population was mainly of guaraní stock, the genetic and environmental determinants of the results should be further explored.

Interleukin 10 Polymorphisms as Risk Factors for Progression to Chagas Disease Cardiomyopathy: A Case-Control Study and Meta-Analysis

“…Conversely, adjusting by age further increased the risk of CCC by some variants of IL-10 promoter. The confounding effect of age on this association is in line with the natural history of Chagas disease as the incidence of cardiopathies increases as infected individuals age ( 44 ). This finding confirms a generalized limitation of associations studies related to CCC: Sample size should be adequate to undertake subgroup analysis or the study subjects should be above 50 years of age were the average impact of Chagas disease on target organs is noticeable in order to avoid including cases in the control group.…”

Caracterização epidemiológica das mortes por doença de Chagas ocorridas no Brasil no período de 2010 a 2019

“…A soroprevalência dessa doença é maior na população rural, porém o perfil de soropositividade tanto na população rural quanto urbana há uma maior prevalência de soropositividade nos grupos etários, com faixas etárias mais velhas (Echalar et al, 2021). Segundo o boletim epidemiológico do Ministério da saúde (2020), no período de 2007 a 2016, a doença de Chagas acometeu cerca de 850 pessoas com idade média de 33 anos, tendo maior prevalência de casos notificados em os indivíduos do sexo masculino (54,40%).…”